Fallout 3

Game Description: For 200 years, Vault 101, a fallout shelter, has served the surviving residents of Washington DC and its environs, now known as the Capital Wasteland. Though the global atomic war of 2077 left the US all but destroyed, the residents of Vault 101 enjoy a life free from Giant Insects, Raiders, Slavers, and yes, even Super Mutants. Yet one morning, you awake to find that your father has left the comfort and security afforded by Vault 101 for reasons unknown. Leaving the only home you've ever known, you emerge from the Vault into the harsh Wasteland sun to search for your father. Fallout 3 is a singleplayer action role-playing game that combines the horrific insanity of the Cold War era theory of mutually assured destruction gone terribly wrong with the kitschy naivety of American 1950s nuclear propaganda.

Fallout 3 Review

"The absence of death in most people's early years creates a psychic vacuum of sorts. For many, thoughts of a nuclear confrontation are one's first true brush with nonexistence, and because they are the first, they can be the most powerful and indelible." The Wrong Sun, Douglas Coupland.

HIGH It's Oblivion... with guns!

LOW It's just—sigh—Oblivion with guns.

WTF How does putting on a lab coat make one better at science?

Nuclear holocaust is never far from people's minds. It is the fear to end all fear—that an advanced civilization might destroy itself through the marriage between science and ego; that a nightmare rain may fall that brings fire and ruin to the Earth, leaving behind nothing of mankind but rubble spattered with raytraced shadows of death. A scenario of such pure dread that people often wonder whether it would be better to die in the initial conflagration than survive and face the uncertain future of endless nuclear harvests. It is into this scorched cradle of a possible tomorrow that the protagonist of Bethesda's Fallout 3 is born, at first consigned to a bunker (Vault 101) in the suburbs of Washington DC, but never destined to remain.

In the alternate history leading up to this event, the Cold War thawed into all-out conflict between the USA and China. The bombs fell. Humanity survived, but rather than starting over and building a utopia, it has sleepwalked into a world of lawless conflict, community clinging on in small clusters, attempting to recreate the forgotten dream of society, never far from a relapse into war. Whether the protagonist becomes a catalyst for collapse or a defender against it is undecided, and it is with this burden of freedom that the player must blink the sunlight out of his or her eyes and leave the womb-like Vault 101 and set out to discover who they are.

Welcome to the Capital Wastelands, a world frozen in a futuristic vision of the 1950s, a charred photograph of the era of DC Comics, Beatniks, and the beginnings of the Civil Rights movement (mutated now into smooth skins versus ghouls), airbrushed with the technology that people those days dreamed of—from nuclear cars to household robots. It is a world steeped in cultural references and nuance. Indeed, each house in the wastelands still standing offers its own story—who were the inhabitants? How did they live? And how did they die? Corpses are to be found curled up in bathtubs, embracing in bed, or inches away from guaranteed survival in a shelter. The world is vast and open, with only the inner regions of what was Washington DC compartmentalised by debris, linked via subway systems. It would be challenging to see everything there is to see, and that is regardless of the existence of downloadable extras. This playfield is richer even than that portrayed by Bethesda in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, perhaps not as large, but far more impressive in its details and texture.

While publicizing this title, Bethesda distanced themselves from the idea that Fallout 3 was Oblivion with guns, which is funny because that is pretty much how it plays. There are many similarities between Fallout 3 and Oblivion: both offer an open ended world for the player to investigate in the style they see fit; there is a main quest for the player to accomplish, but it is more than possible to forget about that completely and lose oneself amongst the detritus; plus there is usually more than one way to accomplish a goal; Fallout 3 even offers enchanted clothing. On the other hand, of the few differences: a large one in Fallout is that skills are doled out from a central kitty, earned by various achievements, like discovering new places, whereas in Oblivion skills are honed through repeated practise (more realistic perhaps, but leading to ridiculous scenarios where it makes sense to jump up and down on the spot a hundred times to improve one's acrobatics a little).

Another change is the introduction of the VATS targeting system, which breaks the action out of real time and allows enemies to be targeted in turn and shots queued up dependent upon a number of action points. It's a nice idea, but the set-up rarely gives a reason to do anything but aim for the head. So rather than each encounter being a Halo-like cat and mouse struggle, it is more a race to freeze time, queue up shots, and sit back as the action plays out. While Fallout 3 was never meant to be all-out action, it seems mired somewhere in the middle between this and role playing: a player is not forced to use VATS at all, but not doing so is a weak option since shooting real time is a huge waste of ammo and highly inaccurate. It would be nice, too, if the stealth approach didn't so often leave the protagonist forced to resort to fighting, not through their own mistakes, understand, but because of the design of the various buildings.

As with any imagined world, it is all too easy to see inconsistencies, and not just the obvious things like how come there is a weird mix of futuristic technology (lasers and robots) alongside 1950's kitsch. It seems that the nuclear war is intended to have occurred years from now, yet how come computers never evolved beyond 1980s terminals? Other subtle things grate, too: in the Fallout 3 world itself people tend to know things as soon as they happen like magic. For instance, a karma system tracks whether a player is good or bad, which is fine, but it breaks the fourth wall when all the non-player characters know right away if the protagonist waltzed into someone's house unseen and stole all of their pots and pans.

What hurts Fallout most, though, is what happens as the protagonist grows in their powers. Fallout 3 apes Oblivion in that when the protagonist increases in level so do all of the enemies in areas that have not yet been visited relevant to the main quest. There are pros and cons to this; mainly, it is a little weird—while the enemies are tweaked to balance the experience, locks and other skill-based checks have fixed values, and often the hardest to open doors and containers have little exciting inside when the player returns to them. Regardless it soon becomes more than possible to deal with any enemy—skills hit the ceiling far before the end if the player indulges in even a little side-questing, and it's then that the VATS system particularly drags. Worse, with no factions to rise to the top of, unlike the guilds in Oblivion, the ultimate purpose of the game soon becomes the completion of the main quest and for reasons probably to do with the coding nightmare of scripting a fallen world back on the road to redemption, after the main quest's completion everything just stops and that's it. The end. It's almost like a nuclear bomb went off. In fact, that would make a better resolution than what is offered here.

Presenting a compelling vision of an alternate future history, Fallout 3 is a memorable experience. That it cannot escape its own limitations is not surprising. Any attempt at a open-ended world without rules through the medium of a computer program, which must necessarily be steeped in rules, cannot work. This problem is perhaps no better illustrated than by an inventive quest that occurs along the main plot line, and is allegorical to our own struggle as beings in this nuclear age: we as flawed creators cannot create that which is without flaw. So in conquering the atom we awaken new fears that mean we must constantly flinch and maybe wonder, albeit fleetingly, if Armageddon is upon us each time lightning crashes over a backdrop of international unrest. Fallout 3 is an imperfect yet important work in documenting humanity's cultural history of fear and is highly recommended. Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Disclosures: This game was obtained via retail and reviewed on the PS3. Approximately 60 hours of play was devoted to single-player mode (completed 3 times).

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game contains blood and gore, intense violence, sexual themes, strong language, use of drugs. There are some particularly gory action scenes and bad language, plus some missions with goals that parents would likely not consent to their young teens playing through and likely to cause offence. Not suitable for young children at all.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing: Subtitles are present although sometimes some dialog parts are subtitled while others are not during the game. Visual clues are present that tell the player which direction damage is being taken from, though the game is fairly hard to play just relying on these.

Fallout 3: Broken Steel Review

Rewriting history with DLC

HIGH Finally fixing the utterly illogical and contrived original ending.

LOW Not enough new gear, though the Tesla Cannon is pretty fab.

WTF Was there no way to save and carry over experience from the last two add-ons?

Released online May 5th, 2009 for PC and the Xbox 360, the last of three currently-planned expansions to the superbly irradiated RPG Fallout 3 is now available.

Titled Broken Steel, this new addition is actually far more significant than the previous two. In addition to a new mission and some new gear for players to discover, it completely alters the end of the game's central quest. Now, rather than bringing the adventure to a close with the fulfillment of Project Purity, Broken Steel permits players to keep on adventuring in the wasteland—something demanded by practically everyone who played it.

From a personal perspective, this was probably the single most important fix Bethesda could have implemented to improve the core Fallout experience. Not only was the original ending completely ludicrous and nonsensical from a plot perspective, it made absolutely no sense in regard to the gameplay. After all, why create one of the most expansive, immersive, and convincing virtual locales only to kick players out for completing the main quest? After spending nearly seventy hours in post-apocalyptic DC myself, I still haven't seen everything there is to see. So, considering that a person following the critical path from start to finish could see credits in fifteen hours or so, allowing them to continue the adventure was an extremely wise decision. I'm very glad they reconsidered, and this change could also be seen as one of the most effective and appropriate arguments for producing add-on content to retail games.

(In addition, the highest experience level players can achieve has now been raised from 20 to 30. This is a good thing, since the majority of diligent players reported hitting the original level cap halfway through the game, or even earlier. Need even more reason to keep on exploring? There it is.)

Turning to the rest of Broken Steel, the new quest involves hunting down the remnants of the Enclave and introduces another new area, Adams Air Force base. This particular string of missions starts slow, but the base itself is a great new environment, and the Tesla Cannon awarded to the player along the way is a tool of major destruction. Overall the quest was enjoyable enough and did pack a few "wow" moments, but like the other two DLCs, it's more combat-oriented and falls short in the role-playing and decision-making areas. Although I'm always glad for more Fallout, the real motivator to download Broken Steel is the endgame fix.

As far as criticism goes, the only issues I see are small ones. For example, it was disappointing to confirm that the game had not been keeping track of the experience points I had theoretically "earned" after hitting the level cap and playing through the last two add-ons. Besides that quibble, there don't seem to be many locations in the wasteland where people recognize that the events at the endgame have changed. I can only imagine the magnitude of work re-jiggering that much dialogue would have involved so I'm not really holding it against Bethesda, but I have to admit that it felt a bit hollow. That said, those are extremely minor concerns—Broken Steel is an absolute necessity for any Fallout 3 player and certainly justifies the cost of the download. Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Reviewer's note: This new end-altering fix is loaded into the game upon startup, and the player must complete the main questline before being able to access the new mission and other content. If the game has already been completed, either load up a previous save before completion or... start a new game.

Disclosures: This game was obtained via paid download and reviewed on the Xbox 360. Approximately four hours of play were devoted to the content, and the add-on was completed one time.

Parents: This add-on content contains the same sort of graphically violent, mature gameplay intended for adults that the core Fallout 3 experience consists of. It is absolutely not appropriate for young ones, so don't even think about letting them get their hands on it.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers will find that although there is sufficient visual information to play the game successfully, being unable to hear incoming gunshots, monster growls and voice samples of enemies outside of the field of vision will make the experience somewhat tougher. Keep those eyes open. On the plus side, subtitles are available for all dialogue EXCEPT the ending sequence. Terrible omission there, Bethesda.

Fallout 3: Mothership Zeta Review

Nevermind, Scotty... Don't bother beaming me up.

HIGH Thawing out the anachronous survivors.

LOW The repetitive, needlessly bloated mission design.

WTF The amount of wasted potential on display here.

Released online August 4th, 2009 for PC and the Xbox 360, the last of five expansions to the superbly irradiated RPG Fallout 3 is now available.

Before saying anything else, I want to express my great love for Fallout 3 as a whole. It's an immense, monumental game that captured my attention in a way that very few other titles have. In fact, I can't remember another title in (at least) the last ten years that sucked away so much of my free time and had me absolutely content to let it. Since it's the fifth and last expansion to Fallout 3's main game, completing Mothership Zeta means that my days spent wandering the wasteland are now at a close. Honestly, I feel a little sad to see this experience finally reach an end. What a long, strange trip it's been...

Wistful feelings aside, I'm not here to reminisce about my admiration for Bethesda's opus, I'm here to review Mothership Zeta itself—and I'm not happy about it. In a nutshell, I'm sad to report that this sprawling, immense adventure has ended on the sourest note possible.

The premise of Zeta is that the main character receives a mysterious radio transmission and goes to investigate the source. Upon arrival, he (or she) is immediately beamed up by a vast alien spacecraft overhead. Although they've placed him inside a cell to await vivisection, the extraterrestrial captors prove vulnerable to a few punches to the face. Making his getaway, the player's character escapes into the depths of the ship with the goal of returning to Earth.

Although this scenario seems ripe with potential, the fact of the matter is that it boils down to another one-note blast-fest similar in tone and structure to the first piece of DLC, Operation Anchorage. Players will spend the majority of their time walking through hallways and large lab areas taking down hostile aliens who soak up huge amounts of damage thanks to their personal energy fields. There is very little dialogue and practically no exploration, unless checking item boxes and tabletops along the way to the next objective counts.

While Anchorage could be forgiven as the first attempt at defining DLC, it was far from perfect. Even so, I was more than willing to give it a little slack just to see where Bethesda was going. This time around, there's no excuse for Zeta to be such a straightforward, tediously repetitive add-on. The feedback from players on Anchorage's missteps was very clear, so I'm baffled as to why this final piece of content feels like a clone of the first, experimental one.

Far too much time is spent eliminating enemies in the cut-and-pasted environments, and as most Fallout players will agree, killing things is the least satisfying part of the game. The true value of the wasteland lies in the interesting situations players stumble into; the moral dilemmas and hard choices. Exploration and the desire to find out what lies around the next corner are another big reason why people spend so much time among the raiders and radscorpions—just wandering from place to place was endlessly rewarding. Unlike the superb Point Lookout which immediately preceded it, Zeta offers exactly none of these things, and ends up being the least enjoyable, least complex, and least interesting expansion Bethesda's offered.

If Mothership Zeta had been half as long and available at half the price, it might have been worthwhile simply for giving players a quick peek behind the origins of the main game's enigmatic alien wreckage. As it stands, this dog-leg jaunt into outer space ends up a giant could-have-been without any real reason to recommend it, save completion for completion's sake. Rating: 3.5 out of 10.

Reviewer's note: This new content is loaded into the game upon start-up, and a message will display onscreen informing the player that the new quest is available within a few minutes of starting play. Simply select it from the pip-boy menu as if it were any normal quest.

Disclosures: This game was obtained via paid download and reviewed on the Xbox 360. Approximately five hours of play were devoted to the content, and the add-on was completed one time.

Parents: This add-on content contains the same sort of graphically violent, mature gameplay intended for adults that the core Fallout 3 experience consists of. It is absolutely not appropriate for young ones, so don't even think about letting them get their hands on it.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing: Youwill find that although there is sufficient visual information to play the game successfully, being unable to hear incoming laserbeams, monster growls and voice samples of enemies outside of the field of vision will make the experience somewhat tougher. Keep those eyes open.

Fallout 3: Operation Anchorage Review

Bringing the fight to a much colder, less radioactive wasteland

HIGH It's more Fallout, for players like me who couldn't get enough.

LOW Getting warped out of an area before I was done searching.

WTF The battle near the end could have been a bit more epic.

Released for download on January 27th via Microsoft's Live service, the first of three planned expansions for the superb post-apocalyptic RPG Fallout 3 is now available.

Titled "Operation Anchorage," the plot is that the main character of the game receives a radio transmission leading him to a new area in the wasteland. Once there, a band of Brotherhood Outcasts report that they've located a large cache of technology and weapons, but it can only be unlocked after someone successfully completes a holographic simulation program re-creating a pivotal battle in Fallout's history. After entering the sim, the player is transported to a military base in Alaska, and must lead the virtual troops to victory by pushing back the invading Communist Chinese.

Since the simulation takes place in the past before nuclear bombs decimated America, there are no irradiated mutants or abandoned ghost towns. In fact, the tone and setting are a radical departure from what the main game offers. Painted in chilly blues and whites, players will make their way through rocky cliffsides and wind-whipped snowfields, fighting off standard infantry troops and deadly elite snipers with Predator-like stealth camouflage.

The game design has received as much of a shift as the environment and enemies have. Instead of the wide-open, go-anywhere, scavenge-anything formula, the type of play here feels much more like a standard military-themed shooter; a sort of Fallout-meets-Call of Duty, so to speak. Instead of taking time to loot every shelf and cupboard, the bulk of the content's 3-to-4 hour duration is spent eliminating the opposition and securing outposts. Reinforcing this new style, health and ammunition in Operation Anchorage are dispensed at preset intervals. Players must be a little more cautious in combat and think on their feet, since there are no stocks of Stimpaks or other remedy items available. Rushing forward and relying on carried inventory for survival is not a valid option here.

Technically speaking, I found that Operation Anchorage was noticeably buggy. I encountered a few freezes requiring reloads, the game did not run as quickly or as smoothly as it did before adding the content, and there are other quirky things that can happen, such as unexpectedly leaping a hundred feet into the air—exciting going up, not so much coming down. Although none of these rough edges are game-breakers by any means, it was a bit disappointing to find that the technical side wasn't as polished as it could have been.

Although players expecting a new cast of characters to interact with and another vast stretch of territory to explore may be disappointed, I found this focused revamp to be a welcome change of pace and a very interesting addition to a game already brimming with quality content. Add in the fact that there's some pretty decent equipment (Gauss Rifle, anyone?) and four more Achievements to be earned by the end of the mission, and I think it's safe to say that any Fallout 3 fan will find the 800-point investment ($10) to be worth it. Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Reviewer's note: This new content is accessed the same way any other standard quest is, and can be selected via the appropriate menu on the Pip-Boy. It may take a minute or two to show up, but be patient and the message announcing the new quest will pop up soon after booting up the game.

Disclosures: This game was obtained via paid download and reviewed on the Xbox 360. Approximately 3.5 hours of play were devoted to the content, and the add-on was completed 1 time.

Parents: This add-on content contains the same sort of graphically violent, mature gameplay intended for adults that the core Fallout 3 experience consists of. It is absolutely not appropriate for young ones, so don't even think about letting them get their hands on it.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: You will find that although there is sufficient visual information to play the game successfully, being unable to hear incoming gunshots and voice samples of enemies outside of the field of vision will make the experience somewhat tougher. Keep those eyes open. On the plus side, subtitles are available for all dialogue.

Fallout 3: Point Lookout Review

Deliverance, Part 2

HIGH Vast and rich, it feels like a perfect extension of the main game.

LOW The ending loot is a disappointment.

WTF Why are these 'shine-swilling hillbillies so bullet-resistant?

Released online June 23, 2009 for PC and the Xbox 360, the fourth of five currently-planned expansions to the superbly-irradiated RPG Fallout 3 is now available.

(To eliminate any confusion, it should be noted that there were only three expansions initially announced. After meeting with success, Bethesda added two more; Point Lookout and the upcoming Mothership Zeta. These will allegedly be the final add-ons to Fallout 3.)

Set in an all-new location much larger than any of the previously-released additions, PointLookout takes the player to a moody, murky area of Maryland sporting a rocky coastline on one side and a wooded marsh inland.

Stepping slightly away from the blasted landscape of D.C., this environment takes on a different flavor—although it's clear that the area has suffered greatly, it wasn't quite as hard-hit. The survivors remaining have mutated into a different sort of existence, and life, although still bleak, isn't quite the minute-to-minute struggle it is elsewhere. Taking advantage of these circumstances, Bethesda has branched out in a slightly different, horror-tinged direction.

...Hillbillies, mind control and vaguely Lovecraftian elements are involved.

Without spoiling anything, I can say that there are between ten and twelve quests (depending how they're counted) and in general, their quality is much higher than what players have previously received in the last three add-ons. Although some are certainly simpler or more straightforward than others, there is a relatively generous amount of discussion and decision-making to be had, in addition to a bit of detective-style leg work. In my view, these are the things that make the Fallout experience what it is, and the primary elements that were lacking in the first three expansions.

Another form of choice that's equally enjoyable, PointLookout is presented as a continuous landscape to be explored at will. After being dropped off at the docks, the player is free to ignore the suggested activities and wander off in any direction. There are a slightly shocking number of named locations to discover, and the developers at Bethesda have once again succeeded in composing passive situations dripping with suggestion. Although easily overlooked, players who take the time will be able to piece together a rich tapestry of implied backstory and flavor whether they poke around the abandoned motel, the lonely lighthouse offshore, or one of the deteriorating mansions littering the landscape.

Overall, this is the largest and most fully-realized expansion yet produced for Fallout 3, and it's an order of magnitude better than any of the previous installments. With quality on par with what can be found in the main game and a significant amount of content for players to digest, if a person could only choose one Fallout add-on, it would most certainly have to be Point Lookout. Rating: 9.0 out of 10.

Reviewer's note: This new DLC is loaded into the game upon start-up, and the player can to access the new mission and other content like any other quest in the Info menu screens. If it's not immediately seen, wait for a few minutes and an onscreen notification of its availability should appear within a minute or two.

Disclosures: This DLC was obtained via paid download and reviewed on the Xbox 360. Approximately 8 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the DLC was completed one time. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: This add-on content contains the same sort of graphically violent, mature gameplay intended for adults that the core Fallout 3 experience consists of. It is absolutely not appropriate for young ones, so don't even think about letting them get their hands on it.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: You will find that although there is sufficient visual information to play the game successfully, being unable to hear incoming gunshots, monster growls and voice samples of enemies outside of the field of vision will make the experience somewhat tougher. Keep those eyes open. On the plus side, subtitles are available for all dialogue. (Exit the menu screens to see subtitles for audio logs.)

Fallout 3: The Pitt Review

Think it can't get more oppressively dismal than D.C.? Welcome to Pittsburgh.

HIGH Going to a completely different area of the destroyed nation.

LOW The 100 item collect-a-thon quest is a tedious drag.

WTF It's not clear where your stolen stuff can be retrieved at quest's end.

Released for download on March 25th via Microsoft's Live service and abruptly pulled due to technical issues, the second of three currently-planned expansions for the superb post-apocalyptic role-playing game (RPG) Fallout 3 is now patched and available.

Titled The Pitt, the plot of this new content is that the character of the game receives a radio transmission leading him to a new area in the D.C. wasteland. Upon arrival, he is greeted by an escapee from what used to be Pittsburgh, and is quickly recruited to help free the slaves held captive there.

In an interesting and appreciated twist, players who might have grown to feel unstoppable thanks to the weapons and gear scavenged over the course of the main game will be reminded of their earlier, far more vulnerable first days outside the Vault. All weapons and items are confiscated in order to blend in with the other slaves, and things can be tense until more healing stimpaks and dropped firearms can be found. It's a great idea, and gives the perfect excuse to become familiar with The Pitt's most notable piece of new tech: the whirling, limb-lopping Auto-Axe. It's amusing.

While some players felt that Fallout 3's first download (Operation Anchorage) wasn't at all what they expected thanks to it being set in an odd "virtual" world, The Pitt is clearly in line with the majority of the core experience. There are several NPCs to talk with, players are free to explore the ruined, rusted-out environments at will, and there are choices to be made in the storyline. Everything that everyone loves about Fallout is present. However, though I'm always glad for the chance to get back into a game that I enjoyed so thoroughly, this download left me wanting more.

Honestly, I didn't feel as though the depth of choice so prevalent in many of the other quests was as fleshed-out as it could have been; up until the end, I kept waiting for more dialogue options and path branches that never appeared. Even worse, the adventure will likely be over in about two hours unless players decide to partake of the absolutely tedious fetch quest sending them off in search of 100 items scattered throughout a dark and confusingly laid-out segment of Pittsburgh. It's a terribly unimaginative and tedious way to add playtime, and I consider it quite beneath the standard of what I would expect in Fallout. Collecting Nuka-Cola Quantum was annoying, but it could be done in increments while knocking out more interesting quests. This new fetch is just a slog.

Although I realize that add-ons will naturally be on a smaller scale, I can't help but feel that Bethesda hasn't quite hit the sweet spot with the scope of these 800-point ($10) expansions. The Pitt doesn't offer a lot of impressive loot to score, collecting items for that last achievement is more trouble than it's worth, and the struggle-with-a-twist to free Pittsburgh's slaves (or not) is over before you know it. As a total Fallout junkie who will likely go in for every piece of DLC Bethesda can toss my way, I'm not saying The Pitt should be skipped... just come to it with a scaled-back level of expectation. Rating: 6.5 of out 10.

Reviewer's note: This new content is accessed the same way any other standard quest is, and can be selected via the appropriate menu on the Pip-Boy. It may take a minute or two to show up, but be patient and the message announcing the new quest will pop up soon after booting up the game.

Disclosures: This game was obtained via paid download and reviewed on the Xbox 360. Approximately 2 hours of play were devoted to the content, and the add-on was completed one time.

Parents: This add-on content contains the same sort of graphically violent, mature gameplay intended for adults that the core Fallout 3 experience consists of. It is absolutely not appropriate for young ones, so don't even think about letting them get their hands on it.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing: You will find that although there is sufficient visual information to play the game successfully, being unable to hear incoming gunshots, monster growls and voice samples of enemies outside of the field of vision will make the experience somewhat tougher. Keep those eyes open. On the plus side, subtitles are available for all dialogue.

Fallout 3 – Preview Screenshots

Expected release date: Fall 2008

Hyped features from publisher:

Limitless Freedom - Take in the sights and sounds of the vast Capital Wasteland! See the great monuments of the United States lying in post-apocalyptic ruin! You make the choices that define you and change the world. Just keep an eye on your Rad Meter!

Experience S.P.E.C.I.A.L. - Vault-Tec® engineers bring you the latest in human ability simulation - the SPECIAL Character System! Utilizing new breakthroughs in points-based ability representation, SPECIAL affords unlimited customization of your character. Also included are dozens of unique skills and perks to choose from, each with a dazzling variety of effects!

Fantastic New Views - The wizards at Vault-Tec® have done it again! No longer constrained to just one view, experience the world from 1st or 3rd person perspective. Customize your view with the touch of a button!

The Power of Choice - Feeling like a dastardly villain today, or a Good Samaritan? Pick a side or walk the line, as every situation can be dealt with in many different ways. Talk out your problems in a civilized fashion, or just flash your Plasma Rifle.

Blast ‘Em Away With V.A.T.S. - Even the odds in combat with the Vault-Tec® Assisted Targeting System for your Pip-Boy Model 3000! V.A.T.S. allows you to pause time in combat, target specific body parts on your target, queue up attacks, and let Vault-Tec take out your aggression for you. Rain death and destruction in an all-new cinematic presentation featuring gory dismemberments and spectacular explosions.

Mind-Blowing Artificial Intelligence - At Vault-Tec®, we realize that the key to reviving civilization after a global nuclear war is people. Our best minds pooled their efforts to produce an advanced version of Radiant AI, America's First Choice in Human Interaction SimulationTM. Facial expressions, gestures, unique dialog, and lifelike behavior are brought together with stunning results by the latest in Vault-Tec® technology.

Eye-Popping Prettiness* - Witness the harsh realities of nuclear fallout rendered like never before in modern super-deluxe HD graphics. From the barren Wasteland, to the danger-filled offices and metro tunnels of DC, to the hideous rotten flesh of a mutant's face.